We are in a world where most of us are face imposter syndrome, fear of getting out of our comfort zone, or even scared to have a bigger dream. I was one among them and was in a shell until I found out the secret recipe of L.I.E.S. This talk is my experience on how I break the shell with the help of tactics and how I leveraged the power of an acronym into a regular habit of creating powerful contents around testing and automation. L: Learn & Listen I: Ideas & Implementations E: Experience & Execution S: Sharing KEY TAKEAWAYS - Practical tips to start creating your first test automation content. - How to leverage the power of a unique methodology that helps you to stay positive and overcome writer’s block. - Practical ideas to overcome imposter syndrome and self-doubt. - Learn the secret ingredients needed to make your test automation content trending. - Techniques to measure how productive you are by applying these techniques.

1. HOW I BREAK THE
SHELL WITH
L.I.E.S
Nithin SS / Fave

2. • A passionate tester & blogger
• QA Lead, Fave Malaysia
• Founder - Synapse QA
Hello!
Nithin SS
nithin-ss Nithin_Synapse

3. Initial days of my career (2014 - 2017)
Preferred to be in comfort zone
Forced Learnings and
Sessions for the sake of KPIs
Most used social media was
Facebook!
Afraid of new challenges
Typical 9-6 Tester
Self-doubt and
imposter syndrome at its peak
Naysayer to public
speaking
Lack of community involvement
@Nithin_Synapse

4. 1
2
3
4
5
6
2020
• Started Synapse QA
as a platform to
connect talented
writers in
community
• More opportunities
to write - guest
blogs
• Workshops,
trainings and
meetup talks
2014
Started my career as
a tester without
knowing testing!
2017
Moved to my second
company, but still a
9-6 tester
2018
• Change of thoughts
• Started dreaming
big and involved in
communities
• Put efforts to learn
more voluntarily
• Started writing and
creating contents
for community
2020 - 2021
• Organised two global
events that
connected testers
across the
globe(super reads &
rise)
• Started mentoring via
Mentoring Club
• Contributed to
testing books with
other testers
• AMA, Talks and
Conferences
PRESENT
I am here to share
how I break the shell
MY ELEVATED CAREER GRAPH
@Nithin_Synapse

5. CHALLENGE YOURSELF TO BE BETTER THAN WHAT YOU WERE
YESTERDAY, IF YOU ARE COMPETING WITH YOURSELF THEN
PEOPLE WILL RALLY AROUND YOU TO HELP YOU ACHIEVE
YOUR GOALS.
Source Internet

6. @Nithin_Synapse
Books that led to my change of thoughts

7. @Nithin_Synapse
Lessons from Atomic Habits
The most effective form of learning is
practice, not planning. Use habit
formation to make action progressively
more automatic through repetition.
JAMES CLEAR
Habits are the compound interest of
self-development. The same way that
money multiplies through compound
interest, the effects of your habits multiply
as you repeat them.

8. @Nithin_Synapse
Lessons from Start With Why
When you compete against everyone else, no one wants to help
you. But when you compete against yourself, everyone wants to
help you.
SIMON SINEK
Those who know what they do tend to work harder.
Those who know why tend to work smarter.

9. Identifying
the
Pitfalls
@Nithin_Synapse

10. Pitfalls
Self-doubt Being a fortune teller
Over thinking
&
Over planning
Comparing with others
Not open to
constructive
feedbacks
@Nithin_Synapse
Burnout

11. Overcoming
the
Pitfalls
@Nithin_Synapse

12. DEFINE PROPER
PERSONAL GROWTH PLAN
02
03
05
04
01
PERSONAL GROWTH
WITH
CONTINUOUS
IMPROVEMENT
Goals & Planning
Motivation
Learning &
Training
Develop
Vision & Creativity
01
02
03
04
05
@Nithin_Synapse

13. Small changes
=
Sustainable
@Nithin_Synapse

14. Make small changes to behaviour
BE CURIOUS
• Find connections in everything
• Listen to others and gather stories
• Learn more and practice more
• Most importantly: Write to Read
• Read -> Write -> Understand -> Observe
STAY POSITIVE & DON'T BE A
FORTUNE TELLER
• Do self reflection and discover the "why"
• Focus on self improvement
• Don't be afraid of change & feedback
• Avoid focusing on outcomes & numbers
SURROUND YOURSELF WITH GOOD CONNECTIONS
• Find your community and engage
• Cherish the connections you make
• Leverage social media for learning and inspiration
@Nithin_Synapse

15. Make small changes to behaviour
BE CONSISTENT
• Fix your frequency
• Organise your ideas (L.I.E.S framework)
• Practise and keep a schedule. If you don’t, you will lose it eventually
• Avoid poor planning
OVERCOME PERFECTIONISM
• Overcome perfectionist mindset
• Start believing that "Done is better than perfect"
• Overcoming fear of failure and imposter syndrome
• Focus on growth than perfect & progress over perfection
• Identifying Bottlenecks
• It doesn’t matter how technically perfect it is if you can’t make people feel your writing
@Nithin_Synapse

16. Make small changes to behaviour
CELEBRATE WINS
• Remind yourself of the
accomplishments
• Keep track of your progress and
achievements to motivate
yourself
As soon as you start creating contents and share with others, you become
one, and that becomes a milestone!
@Nithin_Synapse
AVOID SELF-DOUBT
• Start pushing yourself outside comfort zone
• Stop saying No
• Stop comparing with others, rather compare
with yourself and be better
• Build confidence & change the way you
speak

17. The L.I.E.S Framework
Regular habit of creating powerful contents
Learn & Listen
Space for things I learned
or listened and wants to
elaborate with my
thoughts
Ideas &
Implementations
Space with my own ideas and
implementations I have tried
Experience &
Executions
Categorise topics based on my
experience and how I
executed my ideas &
learnings in career
Sharing
Miscellaneous category
where I add topics worth
sharing, personal
experience on attending
something or something I
read about. Mostly it
includes the “flashes of
inspiration“
@Nithin_Synapse

18. @Nithin_Synapse

19. My Personal Content Tracker
@Nithin_Synapse

20. Overcoming
Imposter Syndrome
&
Self Doubt
@Nithin_Synapse

21. WHAT I KNOW
WHAT I THINK OTHERS KNOW
Imposter Syndrome Reality
WHAT I KNOW
WHAT OTHERS
KNOW
WHAT OTHERS
KNOW
WHAT OTHERS
KNOW
WHAT OTHERS
KNOW
WHAT OTHERS
KNOW
Source: Google
Re-designed
@Nithin_Synapse

22. @Nithin_Synapse
Embrace it as a strength because
most likely it means you are skilled
&
remind yourself of the success you
have helped others to achieve.
NITHIN SS

23. Secret ingredients
to make your
content trending
@Nithin_Synapse

24. @Nithin_Synapse
https://bit.ly/trending-tips

25. What should
success
mean to you?
@Nithin_Synapse

26. • Message conveyed in the blog is received by the readers
• How much knowledge a reader gains from your article
• How helpful your blog can be to someone that stumbles upon it
• How many problems / questions you can convey in your blog
• How much time you are willing to spend to share knowledge
• Write as an author and read as a reader, and figure out improvements on your writing by thinking from
a reader's perspective
• Engagements and Interactions with the community, how we make the readers feel
• How as an author you connect with the readers
• Value, influence & motivation to the audience to do something after reading the article
Measuring Success
@Nithin_Synapse

27. Outcomes
@Nithin_Synapse

28. IF YOU DON'T EXIST ONLINE,
YOU DON'T EXIST AT ALL
Bill Gates

29. • Helps to build professional branding
• Improves visibility
• Increases community presence
• Brings more opportunities
• Gives you the satisfaction on helping and inspiring others
@Nithin_Synapse
Outcomes

30. How
L.I.E.S
helped me
25 articles + 10 guest blog posts in
15 months
Contributed to 4 books by testing
community along with other testers
2 Conferences in 2021
1 AMA, 1 community interview
Micro-workshops & Meetups
@Nithin_Synapse

31. Inaction breeds doubt and fear.
Action breeds confidence and courage.
If you want to conquer fear, do not sit at
home and think about it. Go out and get
busy.
DALE CARNEGIE
@Nithin_Synapse

32. What shared are truth & not lies!
nithin-ss
Nithin_Synapse
Further Read:
https://bit.ly/break-lies
http://bit.ly/unleash-writer
THANK YOU!
nithin.ss@synapse-qa.com
synapse-qa.com